El Salvador's electionGuerrillas out of the mist

EVER since 1989, when the country was still in the midst of a civil war, El Salvador's government has been in the hands of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena). Might that dominance be drawing to a close? So it might seem on the evidence of an election on March 16th for the country's 84-seat Congress and 262 municipalities. This saw gains for Arena's opponents in the civil war, the former guerrillas of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).

Thanks in part to Arena's free-market reforms, El Salvador's economy has performed better than those of most of its neighbours, despite the civil war and two dreadful earthquakes in 2001. But the FMLN's enduring strength testifies to the belief of many Salvadoreans that they have yet to feel much benefit from the reforms. For example, popular support for a six-month strike by doctors, protesting against the feared privatisation of the National Social Security Institute, seemed to hurt Arena.

The FMLN's chief electoral prize was to retain the job of mayor of San Salvador. The incumbent, Héctor Silva, had left the party, fed up with infighting. Arena fielded a strong candidate, Evelyn Jacir de Lovo, a former education minister. But she was roundly defeated by Carlos Rivas Zamora, a little-known FMLN lawyer. In Congress, the FMLN recouped six seats that it had lost when moderates defected from it. But Arena, with allies, will retain a slim legislative majority.

Will it also retain the presidency in a year's time? Noting that it gained a larger share of the popular vote than Arena, the FMLN is hopeful. But only 40% of the electorate turned out. That points less to enthusiasm for the left than disillusion with politics. And while Salvadoreans may be happy for the Front to run their town halls, they may be more reluctant to put it in charge of the economy.

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